Siward Barn/Magnus/The White/Fairbairn () was an 11th-century English thegn and landowner-warrior. He appears in the extant sources in the period following the Norman Conquest of England, joining the northern resistance to William the Conqueror by the end of the 1060s. Siward's resistance continued until his capture on the Isle of Ely alongside Æthelwine, Bishop of Durham, Earl Morcar, and Hereward ("the Wake") as cited in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Siward and his confiscated properties in central and northern England were mentioned in Domesday Book, and from this it is clear that he was one of the main antecessors of Henry de Ferrers, father of Robert de Ferrers, the first Earl of Derby.
Following his capture in 1071, he was imprisoned. This incarceration lasted until 1087, when a guilt-ridden King William, in expectation of his own death, ordered Siward's release. Firm evidence of Siward's later life is non-existent, but some historians have argued that he took up a career in the Varangian Guard at Constantinople, in the service of the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. The sources upon which this theory is based also allege that Siward led a party of English colonists to the Black Sea, who renamed their conquered territory New England.
Origins Identifying Siward's origin is difficult for historians because of the large number of Siwards in England in the mid-11th century. Other notable Siwards include Siward of Maldon and Siward Grossus, both men of substance with landholdings larger or comparable to Siward Barn's.Clarke, English Nobility, pp. 32–3 The Anglo-Norman writer Orderic Vitalis, when describing William the Conqueror's stay at Barking, says that Morcar, formerly Earl of Northumbria, and Edwine, Earl of Mercia, came and submitted to King William, followed by Copsi, Earl of Northumbria, along with Thurkil of Limis, Eadric the Wild, and "Ealdred and Siward, the sons of Æthelgar, grandsons [or grand-nephews] (pronepotes) of King Edward".Chibnall (ed.), Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii, p. 195
Edward Augustus Freeman and other historians have thought that this Siward was Siward Barn, arguing that Siward must have been a descendant of Uhtred the Bold, Earl of Northumbria, and Ælfgifu, daughter of King Æthelred the Unready, King Edward's father.For some citations, see Chibnall (ed.), Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii, p. 194, n. 4 Historian and translator of Orderic, Marjorie Chibnall, pointed out that this Siward is mentioned later in his Ecclesiastical History as a Shropshire landowner, in connection with the foundation of Shrewsbury Abbey.Chibnall (ed.), Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii, p. 194–5, n. 4, Ann Williams likewise rejected this identification, identifying this Siward firmly with the Shropshire thegn Siward Grossus.Williams, The English, pp. 8, 89–6, 175–6; she does not call him "Grossus", but this is the nickname used by Clarke, English Nobility, pp. 339–40 et passim According to Williams' reconstruction, Siward Grossus and his brother Ealdred were the sons of Æthelgar by a daughter of Eadric Streona, Ealdorman of Mercia and Eadgyth, another daughter of King Æthelred, explaining the relationship Orderic believed they had with Edward the Confessor.See, especially, table vi, Williams, The English, p. 91
Another historian, Forrest Scott, guessed that Siward was a member of the family of Northumbrian earls, presumably connected in some way to Siward, Earl of Northumbria.Scott, "Earl Waltheof", p. 172 Margaret Faull and Marie Stinson, the editors of the Philimore Domesday Book for Yorkshire, believed that Siward was "a senior member of the house of Bamburgh and possibly a brother or half-brother of Earl Gospatric".Faull and Stinson, Domesday Book: Yorkshire, part ii, s.v. "SIGVARTHBARN", page number not marked, but in appendix, section 4 "Biographies of Tenants: English" Another historian, Geoffrey Barrow, pointed out that Faull and Stinson gave no evidence for this assertion, and doubted the hypothesis because of Siward's Danish name.Barrow, "Companions of the Atheling", p. 40
In any case, Siward's sobriquet does suggest descent from someone important in Anglo-Saxon England, quite possibly someone of royal blood; Bearn is an Old English word meaning 'descendant', and still exists as bairn (child) in some modern English and Scottish dialects.
From York to Ely
In 1068, there was a revolt in the north of England against the rule of King William, few details of which are recorded.Green, Aristocracy, p. 102 It was serious enough to worry King William, who marched north and began the construction of castles at Warwick, Nottingham, York, Lincoln, Huntingdon and Cambridge.Fleming, Kings and Lords, p. 165 Earl Cospatric apparently fled to Scotland and in the beginning of 1069 King William appointed the Picard Robert de Comines as the new earl of Northumbria.Fleming, Kings and Lords, p. 166; Green, Aristocracy, p. 102
During the winter the English murdered Earl Robert and Robert fitz Richard, the custodian of the new castle at York, and trapped William Malet, the first Norman sheriff of York, in the castle.Fleming, Kings and Lords, p. 166; Green, Aristocracy, p. 103 King William went north in the spring or summer of 1069, relieved the siege of Malet, and restored the castle, placing William fitz Osbern in charge.Fleming, Kings and Lords, p. 166; Green, Aristocracy, p. 103; Kapelle, Norman Conquest, p. 114 The leaders of the revolt were Edgar the Ætheling (claimant to the English throne), Gospatric of Northumbria, and, among others, Mærle-Sveinn, former sheriff of Lincoln, and many senior Northumbria nobles.Fleming, Kings and Lords, p. 166
In the autumn of 1069, a fleet under the Danish king Sweyn Estridsson and his brother Earl Osbjorn arrived off the coast of England.Douglas and Greenway (eds.), English Historical Documents, vol. ii, p. 155; Kapelle, Norman Conquest, p. 114 It is from this point that Siward's involvement in the revolt is documented. Orderic Vitalis related that:The Ætheling, Waltheof, Siward, and the other English leaders had joined the Danes ... The Danes reached York, and a general rising of the inhabitants swelled their ranks. Waltheof, Gospatric (Gaius Patricius), Mærle-Sveinn (Marius Suenus), Elnoc, Arnketil, and the four sons of Karle were in the advance guard and led the Danish and Norwegian forces.Chibnall (ed.), Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii, pp. 226–9
What followed was William's most devastating punitive expedition, the so-called "Harrying of the North", conducted during the winter of 1069/70.Kapelle, Norman Conquest, p. 119 After two minor engagements disadvantageous to the Danes, King William came to an agreement with Earl Osbjorn that neutralised them.Kapelle, Norman Conquest, p. 117 William held Christmas court at the ruined city of York, and brought Waltheof and Gospatric back into his peace at the River Tees.Green, Aristocracy, pp. 103–4
Siward was at Wearmouth in the summer of 1070, with Edgar and Mærle-Sveinn, while William marched to the River Tyne with his marauding army. Although William burnt down the church of Jarrow, he left Edgar's party undisturbed.Kapelle, Norman Conquest, p. 125; Williams, The English, p. 39 Siward must have gone to Scotland in this year, for the Historia Regum reports that in 1071 Morcar (previously earl of Northumbria) and Hereward went by ship to the Isle of Ely, and that "Æthelwine, bishop of Durham, and Siward, nicknamed Barn, sailing back from Scotland" arrived there too.Arnold (ed.), Opera Omnia, vol. i, p. 195; Stevenson, Simeon of Durham, p. 142 This is also related by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which confirms that:Bishop Æthelwine and Siweard Bearn came to Ely and many hundred men with them".Douglas and Greenway (eds.), English Historical Documents, vol. ii, p. 159 It was at Ely that Siward and all the other notables, save Hereward, were captured by King William.Anderson, Scottish Annals, p. 93, n. 2; Green, Aristocracy, pp. 105–6; Williams, The English, pp. 55–7
Confiscation and release By 1086, perhaps soon before or after his capture, many of Siward's lands were given to the Norman warrior Henry de Ferrers, though other successors included Geoffrey de La Guerche and William d'Ecouis.Fleming, Kings and Lords, pp. 163, 176, n. 165; Williams and Martin (eds.), Domesday Book, pp. 953–4, 1140 According to the Domesday Book, in "the time of Edward" (TRE), or rather on the day of the death of Edward the Confessor, Siward held twenty-one manors in eight different English counties.List and table of property given, Clarke, English Nobility, pp. 338–9
In Berkshire, Greenham (£8), Lockinge (£10) and Stanford in the Vale (£30; now in Oxfordshire); in Gloucestershire, Lechlade (£20); in Warwickshire, Grendon (£2), Burton Hastings (£4) and Harbury (£2); in Derbyshire, Brassington (£6), Croxhall (£3), Catton (£3), Cubley (£5), Norbury and Roston (£5), Duffield (£9), Breadhall (£4), "Wormhill" (waste) and Moreley (waste); in Nottinghamshire, Leake (£6) and Bonnington (s. 6); in Yorkshire Adlingfleet (£4); in Lincolnshire, Whitton (£10) and Haxey (5); and in Norfolk Sheringham (£4) and Salthouse (£2). Ann Williams doubted that the estates in Berkshire belonged to Siward Barn, noting the possibility that these estates belonged to Siward of Maldon.Williams, The English, p. 34, n. 72
The total value of his holdings is put at 142 libra ("pounds") and 6 solidi ("shillings").Clarke, English Nobility, p. 339 Siward Barn ranks 21st out of all the English landowners in the time of King Edward below the rank of earl.Clarke, English Nobility, p. 38
Nothing more is heard of Siward until 1087, the year of the death of William the Conqueror. The Chronicle of John of Worcester relates that:On his [King William's] return [from France] fierce intestinal pains afflicted him, and he got worse from day to day. When, as his illness worsened, he felt the day of his death approaching, he set free his brother, Odo, bishop of Bayeux, earls Morkar and Roger, Siward called Barn, and Wulfnoth, King Harold's brother (whom he had kept in custody since childhood), as well as all he had kept imprisoned either in England or Normandy. Then he handed the English kingdom over to William [Rufus], and granted the Norman duchy to Robert [Curthose], who was then exiled in France. In this way, fortified by the holy viaticum, he abandoned both life and kingdom on Thursday, 9 September, after ruling the English kingdom for twenty years, ten months, and twenty-eight days.McGurk (ed.), The Chronicle of John of Worcester, vol. iii, p. 47 A similar account is in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, recension E, though specific names are omitted.McGurk (ed.), The Chronicle of John of Worcester, vol. iii, p. 46, n. 7 This unfortunately is also the last notice of Siward in any near-contemporary, reliable source.Williams, The English, p. 34
Varangian and colonist?